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Our society is becoming more diverse than ever as people feel more relaxed and open to showing their true colors and no longer hiding their sexuality in the closet. Despite still being frowned upon in some societies, you can hear more gay and lesbian relationships out in the open now than it was a decade ago. Some are into cross-dressing while others prefer to be more discreet.

Gays also give life to parties and conversation with their lively personalities. But what is it really like to live in one of the most progressive countries in the world? Gay pride is popular in America but there are still many incidences of gay abuse and crimes where the LGBT community are picked on, ridiculed, or even killed because they are considered as sexual deviants by many conservative citizens in the country.

A local chapter of a national LGBTQ support organization will be hosting a screening of the National Geographic documentary “Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric” at 6 p.m., Tuesday, March 21, in an effort to help educate the local community about issues related to gender identity and the LGBTQ community.

The documentary, which was made in conjunction with an entire issue of National Geographic magazine dedicated to LGBTQ and gender issues, examines the “rapidly evolving complexities of gender identity,” said Chad Farner, an Oskaloosa Middle School teacher and a president and co-founder of the PFLAG Oskaloosa chapter.

Raising awareness can make a big difference on how the population at large understands the life of the LGBT community and be more tolerant of them as members of the community.

“There is certainly a need to advocate and educate about LGBTQ issues,” Farner said of the film showing and discussion. “[Gender identity] is not as black and white as people may think. The idea is to educate the public on gender identity and the different facets.”

Farner said PFLAG has a goal of advocating for equal rights for all Iowans, especially those who identify as LGBTQ. The local Oskaloosa chapter has a mailing list with more than 50 people, and meets monthly. Farner said there are several students in the Oskaloosa Community School District that are “exploring their gender” and the organization strives to help them in any way possible.

“We’ve had a least one transgender student reach out at the high school, and there are several at the middle school.” Farner said. “There is support among the other students and the district seems to be handling [the issue] well. It feels good.”

(Via: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15ad44545d306752?projector=1)

All over the country, LGBT support groups take initiatives to fight for their rights and make their voices be heard in the nation’s capital.

Brinton started #50Bills50States, a campaign to eliminate conversion therapy in all 50 states. Brinton went through conversion therapy, later graduated MIT and went on to become a nuclear physicist. Brinton also is on the board for the Born Perfect campaign as a part of the National Coalition for Lesbian Rights. So far, five states have banned conversion therapy for those who are under 18, and another 22 have submitted legislation this year. The ban means that licensed therapists would have their licenses removed for performing conversion therapy.

Brinton said the suicide rate for LGBT people, already higher when compared to the straight and cisgender population, is astronomically high for those who have survived conversion therapy. Brinton said survivors may need mental health support but don’t seek it because conversion therapy caused the mental health crisis in the first place.

(Via: http://www.beloitdailynews.com/article/20170315/ARTICLE/170319835)

It seems as if that despite the openness towards gays/ lesbians we see in the mainstream media, it does not really or rarely happens in real life all the time and many members of the LGBT community still struggle to be accepted by the people around them. They even struggle to get fair and just treatment from leaders of the country who tramples on their rights and even manage to get away with it.

The US Senate should “interrogate” President Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, several of the country’s top LGBT groups said on Thursday, warning that Judge Neil Gorsuch’s track record raises concerns he opposes same-sex marriage and transgender rights.

In a letter to leading members of the Senate Judiciary Committee obtained by BuzzFeed News, 19 organizations worried Gorsuch may stymie attempts to expand legal protections, saying, “We have concluded that his views on civil rights issues are fundamentally at odds with the notion that LGBT people are entitled to equality, liberty, justice and dignity under the law.”

Gorsuch would serve on the Supreme Court as several LGBT cases percolate in the federal judiciary, including those asking whether transgender students and workers are protected under existing law, and if corporations are free to act based on their opposition to same-sex marriage.

(Via: https://www.buzzfeed.com/dominicholden/lgbt-groups-gorsuch-letter?utm_term=.uvj09JyVV#.qfrzePGll)

There is a lot of work involved before the LGBT community can finally be viewed as normal members of society where people will no longer judge them because of their gender identity or sexual preference. It is not a lost cause for them, though, as the public gradually becomes less condescending to them and start to see them as human beings too. It is a different case, though, when it comes to biased government officials whose policies are affected by their own personal biases.

Times have changed a lot that gays and lesbians no longer have to hide in the dark (or in the closet) anymore. Most of them are now free to express their gender choices and even cross-dress if they are confident enough. Those who are in relationships with one another even get to get married for real because some US states and countries now allow that to happen. Best of all, it is legal too. Indeed, the LGBT community is doing better now than they did before but underneath, problems still exist.

Even though their lives are better now, there are still challenges that the LGBT community continues to face until now. LGBT activists speak up on behalf of the gay community to voice out their sentiments and ensure that the people in authority know about it and they can include such changes in the policies they make. While gays and lesbians live better now, some are still discriminated and had to endure some sort of violence (verbal or physical) now and then.

In the United States and many other parts of the world, this is a worrisome time for LGBT activists, as the pace of civil rights victories has grown uneven and reports of anti-LGBT violence and persecution surface relentlessly.

In the past two months, there have been large-scale detentions of gay men in Nigeria and Bangladesh, and chilling accounts of roundups and torture of scores of gays in Chechnya.

In Indonesia, a major police raid on a gay sauna was followed two days later by the public caning of two gay men.

More than 70 countries continue to criminalize gays’ sexual activity.

(Via: http://www.wisconsingazette.com/news/in-us-and-abroad-a-worrisome-time-for-lgbt-activists/article_f99fec84-4b75-11e7-b26c-e7267f168ad3.html)

In some places in the US, serial killings of gays have flooded the news not long ago that it became a cause of alarm for the entire LGBT community. In far away places of Bangladesh and Nigeria, gay men are also being detained. Other similar cases are happening in various places all over the world that the LGBT community is calling for everyone to unite in the face of extreme and violent oppression and make their voices heard.

But this year, the meeting leading up to the parade was not to finalize organizational touches. Instead, many members of the LGBT community bombarded Capital Pride organizers with their concerns about corporate sponsorship, police participation, the lack of diverse leadership, and fundamental questions of whether this year’s Pride should be a celebration or a demonstration. For more than two hours, attendees pushed for significant changes, outnumbering those who wanted Pride to remain the same celebration it’s been in recent years.

In various ways, the meeting in DC was a microcosm of concerns that have become more prominent in planning Pride celebrations in the era of President Donald Trump, from New York to Los Angeles. Cities all over the country began having June parades in 1970, on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots, in which patrons of a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn spontaneously rose up against police harassment in an event generally considered to be the beginning of the LGBT liberation movement. Over the years, the events became lively festivals and parades celebrating LGBT identity, with increasing corporate sponsorship and police participation.

(Via: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/06/politics-lgbt-pride-resistance-trump-1/)

Gay pride is no longer just a celebration but more of an opportunity to protest. It’s more than just being out and proud but fighting for their inherent human rights that the rest of humanity enjoys. However, like everything else, this is easier said than done especially if you live in America. With a president like Donald Trump, you can’t expect to live a normal life as a member of the LGBT community. He isn’t the type of person to support such causes and it is easy to see how disconnected he is from the gay community as a whole.

In reality, these issues fail in comparison to the threats of war and terrorism that we all now face. However, it does not mean that they don’t have any bearing at all because we are still talking about people’s lives even if many people consider them queer. Nobody should be above anyone for we are all created equal. Of we only keep this in mind, there won’t be any problem achieving world peace at all for everyone regardless of their gender identity.